The 27th incarnation of the Western States Open at the Sands Regency in Reno, October 23-25, was tinged with sadness. Jay Blem, a bookseller and then TD at the tournament for many years, had passed away suddenly a month before, and a moment of silence was observed in his honor.

The turnout of 250 players approximated last year’s, and a prize fund of about $29,000 was paid out. The Open section attracted no less than nine grandmasters and five IMs. As observed in our earlier report, upsets were in the air (yes, and lots of draws), and no one had more than 4 points going into the sixth and final round. Jaan Ehlvest and Alexander Ivanov drew quickly, and Eugene Perelshteyn and Sergey Kudrin were not far behind. That left the running to Ildar Ibragimov, who administered a severe defeat to young FM Steven Zierk (the only non-GM in the group), while Melikset Khachiyan was paired “down” with the Dutch GM Loek Van Wely. He triumphed in a tactical middlegame followed by an intricate ending:

And so there ensued a playoff (two ten-minute games…at 11 pm!) for the title of Western States Open Champion and a $100 bonus. Khachiyan won the first game against his better rested opponent, with Ibragimov misplaying an easily drawn ending. Though needing only a draw with White, Khachiyan won the second rapid game in style:

With another major title under his belt, the 39-year-old GM from Los Angeles (who once trained world championship contender Lev Aronian) confirms his place among our premier Swiss circuit players.

Joining Perelshteyn, Kudrin, Ehlvest, and Ivanov in the 4 ½ group were FM Alexandre Kretchetov and IM Enrico Sevillano (now clearly America’s top IM, after the ascension of Ben Finegold to GM). Enrico was one of Steven Zierk’s upset victims (Round 4), but recovered and downed FM Andrew Karklins in the finale. And speaking of Andrew, here’s his first round shocker over Ehlvest, which was referenced in our earlier article:

White's pawn sac has not yielded the desired results. His pressure has dissipated, but it's still very much a game -- until this careless move leads to a deadly zwischenzug.26...d5 27.Ne3 d4 0–1 (White loses a piece because Rxc7 dxe3 comes with check- the reason Kf2 was a blunder.)

Zierk did split Under 2400 honors with Curt Collyer and GM Amon Simutowe, while the same 4-point score earned clear Under 2300 honors for Dana Mackenzie of Santa Cruz, CA.

Class winners were many, as befits a tournament held in a casino. The first place winners included Expert: Paul Romero (trophy), Gary Huang, and Igor Margulis; A: Drayton Harrison; B: Galen Pyle (trophy), Taylor Bailey, and Daniel Rozenblatt; C: Daniel Moglen (trophy), Adam Baraz, Kerry Van Veen, and Matthias Grabiak; D: Michael Winters (trophy), Eric Isberg, and Eduardo Magan; and E/Unrated: Philip Dennis (trophy), Leland Moglen (Daniel’s son), and Jeff Olson. The Quick tournament was the only event with a poor turnout, and IM Cyrus Lakdawala came up from San Diego to win with ease.

Karklins’ upset of Ehlvest was hardly the only case of experience topping youth. 93-year-old Daniel Litowsky won over seven-year-old Jeffrey Tao in the B section! Another tournament oddity: having warned that ten pushups would be imposed on cell phone violators, TD Jerry Weikel was the first to suffer the penalty. And though it’s been many years since he was a Marine, he did them with ease. Semper Fi, Jerry, and remember – vibrate setting!

Jerry’s capable staff included Fran and Dana Weikel, Victor Flashman, Adam Searcy, Grant Fleming, and Sal Rosario. The Sands Regency tournaments (October and Easter weekend) offer many extras (coffee and pastry, name plates with state/national flags for the Open section and top five boards in the others, ten demo boards, lectures by GM Larry Evans, and a simul (Dmitry Gurevich did the honors this year). Consider making that trip to Reno!